Mudderoy
06-02-2011, 01:15 AM
Some of you know that my wife drives a 1996 Mustang. This was a replacement vehicle that we could ill afford at the time that the 1995 Ford Aerostar was totaled. It was rear ended while my step son was driving it.
We had purchased the Aerostar new and really needed it for the seven of us. My two boys from a previous marriage were living with us, then were not, then were again as my ex-wife felt they should then shouldn't then should. I had a Ford F150 club cab and it just wasn't enough spots for everyone.
By the time of the loss of the Aerostar my two boys were back with my ex-wife and my step son was driving. Of course he was driving the van because his vehicle wasn't running.
I think we paid a little too much for the 96 Mustang but it was in good shape, and my wife really liked it. She didn't care for the minivan much, although it served it purpose at the time.
The 96 Mustang had a manual transmission and a 3.8 V6 engine. It was red, much like the Jeep. Red is both our favorite color.
The A/C had a problem which I got repaired. The 2 O2 sensors needed to be replaced, and other than oil changes, inspection stickers, and registration we didn't do anything else to it.
A few months ago my wife was driving back home on I-10 and due to heavy rain and the state of the rear tires she spun and hit a concrete wall. msmoorenburg can tell you it wasn't a minor hit. He and I (mostly him) spend a good couple of hours on it trying to straighten out the rear quarter panel. That is when we found out the body was bent. Still the rear quarter panel looked a lot better, and reluctantly she kept driving it.
With the down turn in the economy and a drastic change in my job back in 2002 we just couldn't afford to have the damage professionally repaired, or buy a replacement vehicle.
It's not unusual, we all deal with what we deal with and move forward. I was hoping to do a little body work and hopefully make it look a little better for her.
Over a year ago, and long before her single vehicle wreck, she noticed that the engine would run hot while driving to or from her parents house, some 20 miles away. The solution was simple. Just occasionally remember to fill the over flow bottle. I keep looking in the typical places for the signs of a leak. Around the radiator and under the water pump, and around the water pump on the front of the engine. Nothing. It was really strange. The Mustang had 70k miles on it when we purchased it, so even though the miles were not extreme it was an older motor and well sometimes they just do things like this.
As I look back I now understand what was going on.
Over the last few weeks my wife had told me that the engine would make a noise. It would lose power and act like it wanted to die. It would only do it for a little bit, then stop and act normal again. There did seem to be a slight miss in a normally smooth running engine.
It really sounded like a sensor issue to me, and she could never get it to do it when I was around, or when I test drove it. The "check engine" has been on for years. I would just clear it before getting it inspected. The light had to do with the EVAP canister, or associated components. I wasn't looking forward to removing the fender to get to these parts.
Today about noon I received a semi-panic call from my wife. Not nearly as concerning as that call I received after she had spun and struck the concrete wall, thankfully.
She told me that the engine started making that noise, and shaking, but this time the engine stopped even before she could exit I-10. She again was stranded on I-10 and this time with our daughters.
I called a local tow company (something else I can't afford) to go and tow the Mustang to the house. I was concerned about my wife and girls, so I left work to head back to their side of town just in case. It's great to have an employer that allows these things, and I try hard not to use these allowances.
Everything worked out well though and even though I'm an hour away, I arrived home just after the tow truck dropped the Mustang and my wife and girls off at the house.
Over the next several hours I tried to diagnose and repair the problem with the Mustang. I started with an OBDII scan to see what OTHER codes were being displayed. Nothing, still the P1433(?) that indicated the issue with the EVAP canister, purge valve or purge flow sensor. I figured that this must be this culprit and it had just got to the point that now it wasn't allowing the engine to function at all.
I decided to start with the sensor, because of the description from my wife, and some Google research I did. Local autoparts didn't have it so I got it from the Ford dealership. $40 and a short trip from my house to a local Katy Ford dealership later and I was back home. Luckily the sensor wasn't hidden behind the passenger fender as the EVAP canister was, in fact it was just at the firewall and literally didn't require a socket, or a screwdriver to replace. Just two vacuum lines and an electrical connection!
When I found out (at the Ford parts) where this was located I said "Obviously Murphy's law will take over and this will NOT be the solution to the problem" which got chuckles from the parts person.
I returned home and replaced the part. The engine had started and ran fine (with a slight miss) after I had returned home from work, so unfortunately I couldn't just assume that all was well by replacing this sensor and cranking up the engine.
After clearing the check engine light I decided I'd let the engine idle and see if it would act up again. I had a part to replace on the Jeep, so I worked on it while monitoring several OBDII sensors on my laptop.
I noticed that the electric fan wasn't spinning, so I kept monitoring the coolant temp. Occasionally I would check the dash gauge which showed normal, and did move from it's original engine cool location.
The coolant temp never raised above 176 degrees, and the electric fan never came on.
While finishing up on the part replacement of the Jeep I heard that "noise" my wife had tried to describe to me. It's the sound an engine makes when it is very hot, the sound of detonation, or pre-ignition. I quickly went over to the Mustang and I could smell the hot engine. I checked the laptop, and it said 176. I checked the dash gauge and it had actually gone down!
I gave the engine a little gas and the detonation noise "knock" increased and got louder. Throttle response was bad. I turned off the ignition. Obviously the problem my wife had been experiencing was the engine over heating. It all fit.
I racked my brain on how could the electric fan not come on, well the temp never was high enough for it to kick on. But it was obviously not 176 degrees so could it just be a bad sensor? I squeezed the upper radiator hose and it was completely empty. Now the engine was off, but I felt there should be water in there, at least some.
So I thought, this must be a stuck thermostat. Off to the parts place I went. I picked up a 195 degree thermostat, a switch/temp sensor and an air filter. It was just time to change that filter.
I removed the thermostat housing and the thermostat was covered in what I could best describe as a thick rust. A powdery substance that was really on there. It appeared to me that the t-stat housing and thermostat bolted directly to the intake. Stupid Fords, really stupid me because I just never had worked on one before.
The engine had been off about an hour so with the t-stat cover off I tried spraying some water in to what appeared to be a bone dry intake water jacket. I got more of that "rust" out of there and even flushed out more. I just couldn't figure where all that brown stuff came from.
We had purchased the Aerostar new and really needed it for the seven of us. My two boys from a previous marriage were living with us, then were not, then were again as my ex-wife felt they should then shouldn't then should. I had a Ford F150 club cab and it just wasn't enough spots for everyone.
By the time of the loss of the Aerostar my two boys were back with my ex-wife and my step son was driving. Of course he was driving the van because his vehicle wasn't running.
I think we paid a little too much for the 96 Mustang but it was in good shape, and my wife really liked it. She didn't care for the minivan much, although it served it purpose at the time.
The 96 Mustang had a manual transmission and a 3.8 V6 engine. It was red, much like the Jeep. Red is both our favorite color.
The A/C had a problem which I got repaired. The 2 O2 sensors needed to be replaced, and other than oil changes, inspection stickers, and registration we didn't do anything else to it.
A few months ago my wife was driving back home on I-10 and due to heavy rain and the state of the rear tires she spun and hit a concrete wall. msmoorenburg can tell you it wasn't a minor hit. He and I (mostly him) spend a good couple of hours on it trying to straighten out the rear quarter panel. That is when we found out the body was bent. Still the rear quarter panel looked a lot better, and reluctantly she kept driving it.
With the down turn in the economy and a drastic change in my job back in 2002 we just couldn't afford to have the damage professionally repaired, or buy a replacement vehicle.
It's not unusual, we all deal with what we deal with and move forward. I was hoping to do a little body work and hopefully make it look a little better for her.
Over a year ago, and long before her single vehicle wreck, she noticed that the engine would run hot while driving to or from her parents house, some 20 miles away. The solution was simple. Just occasionally remember to fill the over flow bottle. I keep looking in the typical places for the signs of a leak. Around the radiator and under the water pump, and around the water pump on the front of the engine. Nothing. It was really strange. The Mustang had 70k miles on it when we purchased it, so even though the miles were not extreme it was an older motor and well sometimes they just do things like this.
As I look back I now understand what was going on.
Over the last few weeks my wife had told me that the engine would make a noise. It would lose power and act like it wanted to die. It would only do it for a little bit, then stop and act normal again. There did seem to be a slight miss in a normally smooth running engine.
It really sounded like a sensor issue to me, and she could never get it to do it when I was around, or when I test drove it. The "check engine" has been on for years. I would just clear it before getting it inspected. The light had to do with the EVAP canister, or associated components. I wasn't looking forward to removing the fender to get to these parts.
Today about noon I received a semi-panic call from my wife. Not nearly as concerning as that call I received after she had spun and struck the concrete wall, thankfully.
She told me that the engine started making that noise, and shaking, but this time the engine stopped even before she could exit I-10. She again was stranded on I-10 and this time with our daughters.
I called a local tow company (something else I can't afford) to go and tow the Mustang to the house. I was concerned about my wife and girls, so I left work to head back to their side of town just in case. It's great to have an employer that allows these things, and I try hard not to use these allowances.
Everything worked out well though and even though I'm an hour away, I arrived home just after the tow truck dropped the Mustang and my wife and girls off at the house.
Over the next several hours I tried to diagnose and repair the problem with the Mustang. I started with an OBDII scan to see what OTHER codes were being displayed. Nothing, still the P1433(?) that indicated the issue with the EVAP canister, purge valve or purge flow sensor. I figured that this must be this culprit and it had just got to the point that now it wasn't allowing the engine to function at all.
I decided to start with the sensor, because of the description from my wife, and some Google research I did. Local autoparts didn't have it so I got it from the Ford dealership. $40 and a short trip from my house to a local Katy Ford dealership later and I was back home. Luckily the sensor wasn't hidden behind the passenger fender as the EVAP canister was, in fact it was just at the firewall and literally didn't require a socket, or a screwdriver to replace. Just two vacuum lines and an electrical connection!
When I found out (at the Ford parts) where this was located I said "Obviously Murphy's law will take over and this will NOT be the solution to the problem" which got chuckles from the parts person.
I returned home and replaced the part. The engine had started and ran fine (with a slight miss) after I had returned home from work, so unfortunately I couldn't just assume that all was well by replacing this sensor and cranking up the engine.
After clearing the check engine light I decided I'd let the engine idle and see if it would act up again. I had a part to replace on the Jeep, so I worked on it while monitoring several OBDII sensors on my laptop.
I noticed that the electric fan wasn't spinning, so I kept monitoring the coolant temp. Occasionally I would check the dash gauge which showed normal, and did move from it's original engine cool location.
The coolant temp never raised above 176 degrees, and the electric fan never came on.
While finishing up on the part replacement of the Jeep I heard that "noise" my wife had tried to describe to me. It's the sound an engine makes when it is very hot, the sound of detonation, or pre-ignition. I quickly went over to the Mustang and I could smell the hot engine. I checked the laptop, and it said 176. I checked the dash gauge and it had actually gone down!
I gave the engine a little gas and the detonation noise "knock" increased and got louder. Throttle response was bad. I turned off the ignition. Obviously the problem my wife had been experiencing was the engine over heating. It all fit.
I racked my brain on how could the electric fan not come on, well the temp never was high enough for it to kick on. But it was obviously not 176 degrees so could it just be a bad sensor? I squeezed the upper radiator hose and it was completely empty. Now the engine was off, but I felt there should be water in there, at least some.
So I thought, this must be a stuck thermostat. Off to the parts place I went. I picked up a 195 degree thermostat, a switch/temp sensor and an air filter. It was just time to change that filter.
I removed the thermostat housing and the thermostat was covered in what I could best describe as a thick rust. A powdery substance that was really on there. It appeared to me that the t-stat housing and thermostat bolted directly to the intake. Stupid Fords, really stupid me because I just never had worked on one before.
The engine had been off about an hour so with the t-stat cover off I tried spraying some water in to what appeared to be a bone dry intake water jacket. I got more of that "rust" out of there and even flushed out more. I just couldn't figure where all that brown stuff came from.